8/16/07

I had something to say earlier but now I don’t remember what it was. I'm sure it was something semi-important. No, I'm not sure of that at all now that I think about it. It was probably one of those ideas I have on occasion that are better left on the cutting room floor. I guess I'll tell y'all about mom’s dead battery then. Tuesday at lunch I get a call from mom telling me that the battery in the Altima is dead. Stephanie is coming to pick her up so I'm not needed immediately, but I'm not to tarry on the way home so we can go get the thing fixed. I go home at the usual hour and we head to the cafeteria where the car is broke. I hop in and give the key a try, just in case it was operator error. Nope, it’s dead. I send mom in to the air conditioning while I get to work. I pull the old battery out and plop it in the hatch of Matilda then we go across the street to the Boys of Pep. The kid tests it, while eating some fried chicken, looks like Church’s but I can’t be sure, and declares, “Momp, vif babbery’f mo goob. Go fee… Harold and he’ll get you started on getting a new one.” He swallowed the chicken about the time he got to the word “Harold” you see. I went to see Harold and he sent me in to the parts counter. At the counter I told the girl what I needed and she looked it up. We chose one and an old timer went with me to the rack to get it. He grabbed the usual “upsale” stuff, the little felt ring thingies and some dielectric grease, and sent me to the register. Mom bought all the stuff and we headed back to Matilda. Back at mom’s car, I send her back into the air conditioning again and get cracking on the install. I get the battery located and the little cover hoozis in place and am aligning the “J” bolts when I realize I can’t see shit in the shade with my sunglasses on. I take them off and set them on the strut tower. I get the hold-down bracket in place and grab a nut. No, not one of mine, one that holds the battery in place. As I'm trying to start it on the bolt, it drops into the deep dark recesses of the fender. “Crap!” I say, along with some other expletives I'm sure. I try to find the missing nut but it is lost forever. As I'm contemplating how I'm going to resolve this situation I notice a nut, exactly like the one I just lost, sitting on the strut tower next to my sunglasses. There is no way it could have bounced there. I have no idea where it came from or what it used to hold in place or how long it had been sitting there or anything, I just was glad to see it. I used it to secure the battery, along with the other nut I didn’t drop. I hooked up the positive cable and dug the keys out so I could deactivate the alarm when I connected the negative cable. I steeled myself for the inevitable and plopped the terminal on the post. Nothing. I tightened the terminals and got in to try the starter. Rrrrrreeeeeooooow vrrrroooom! It fired right up. I packed up the tools and put them away in Matilda then had a last look around before shutting the hood. I noticed the sunglasses just before slamming the hood on them. Well, I noticed them and picked them up then slammed the hood not on them. I shut off the engine and set the alarm then cleaned my hands with the Agent Orange I keep in the back of Matilda. I took mom her keys and she said we ought to eat there since they were so nice as to let her leave the car in a handicapped spot all day. I was too tired to fight it so we ate there. After dinner we took off to the house. She got a good gap on Alta Mere and made the left. I saw the oncoming traffic and took a right to the next left turn thingy. I hooked a “U” turn and was on my way. I got home to find no mom. “Aw crap!” I thought. I went in and found my phone to call and see where it had left her stranded. She didn’t answer. Just as I was about to head out to find her she pulled up. “Sorry,” she said, “I stopped for milk.” I was relieved to say the least. With that adventure behind us, I sat down to watch TV. I woke up about 2200 h and went to bed. Yesterday was uneventful but I just couldn’t be bothered to come in here and talk. Deal. Well, I have to meet someone and I have to pee. I think I'll call it a rant and go do those things. Buh bye.